On October 9, 2019, the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) published in the Federal Register a notice [Docket No. USTR–2018–0001] withdrawing the exclusion of bifacial solar panels exclusion to the solar products safeguard measure. On January 23, 2018, the President imposed a safeguard measure on imports of certain solar products pursuant to a section 201 investigation. On February 14, 2018, USTR established procedures for interested persons to request product-specific exclusions from application of the safeguard measure. On June 13, 2019, USTR published a notice granting certain requests for exclusions and excluding the products at issue from the safeguard measure’s application. In particular, USTR excluded bifacial solar panels consisting only of bifacial solar cells. Since publication of that notice, USTR has evaluated this exclusion further and, after consultation with the Secretaries of Commerce and Energy, determined it will undermine the objectives of the safeguard measure. Accordingly, USTR has modified the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) to withdraw the exclusion of bifacial solar panels from application of the safeguard measure. USTR also has modified the HTSUS to make certain technical changes in connection with the safeguard measure.
The withdrawal of the exclusion for bifacial solar panels from application of the safeguard measure and technical changes will apply as of October 28, 2019
